HMCS CHICOUTIMI (1st) (K156)

The History of the CHICOUTIMI (1st)

Commissioned at Montreal on May 12, 1941, Chicoutimi arrived at Halifax on May 17. She carried out workups and then joined Sydney Force, escorting ocean convoys on the first leg of their eastward journey. In September she joined Newfoundland Command and left Sydney on September 29 to escort convoy SC.47 to Iceland. She was employed for the next five months as an ocean escort between St. John's and Iceland and, later, Londonderry. Reassigned to WLEF, she left 'Derry on February 27, 1942, to meet convoy On.71. She served with WLEF until August, 1944 (from June, 1943, on with EG W-1), when she was transferred to HMCS Cornwallis as a training ship. In April, 1945, she went to Sydney Force and, on June 16, was paid off at Sorel for disposal. She was broken up at Hamilton, Ont., in 1946. A credit to her builders, Canadian Vickers, Chicoutimi required only three short refits during her active career, and she was one of the few corvettes to survive the war with a short fo'c's'le.